Superhero
by Dahabo
Summary: Charlotte wasn't what you'd call a fan of Superheroes. Sure they were brave but half the time they were just more trouble than they were worth. Her life takes an unfortunate (or fortunate?) turn for the interesting when a certain superhero develops a keen fascination with her much to her dismay.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

 **oooOoooOoooOooo**

Charlotte Bolton walked toward her locker ready leave Swellview High alongside of her childhood best friend Jasper, with a relieved sigh. Midterms had _finally_ finished and the 17 year old was truly gladdened to get them out of her way and was ready to de-stress and relax for the long weekend.

'Whoo! I'm glad that's done! That French final was confusing, right?!" Jasper grinned putting his hands behind his head.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow as she placed her books in her bag and closed the locker. "Jasper, I don't take French, I take Spanish. And, anyway, weren't all the language finals yesterday?"

"Oh. Yeah." The two friends fell into step with each other as they walked out of the school. "All this test stress is getting to me." the tall brown-haired boy pouted, then grinned excitedly at her.

"Let's go to the Sugar Bowl to celebrate our freedom! My treat!" Charlotte sighed.

"Can't. I've got work. And, anyway, we wouldn't Kennedy to get jealous would we?" she teased.

Jasper paled, before shuddering. "Ugh! She threatened my buckets, Charlotte! My _buckets_! Even after I told her you and I were _just_ friends." He slouched down as if to hide his tall frame as if said blonde-haired girl would pop up suddenly like the devil.

"I don't know what I ever saw in her." he said as they turned toward the main street where the bus stop Charlotte used to get downtown for work was.

"You didn't." She said smirking. "You suddenly hit a growth spurt and the girls just jumped at you like wild hyenas."

The curly-haired girl put her hands together and began to narrate as if she were a nature show host. "You were like a baby gazelle, unsure and confused at the watering hole. Surrounded by wild and vicious predators. Kennedy just saved your ass by being a lion and swiping you up from the horde of hungry hyenas."

Jasper pouted. "Hey, you don't need to describe me all helpless like that. I'm a ladies man! A true lady killer!"

Charlotte just giggled and waved her friend off. "I'm so sure. Thanks for walking me to the bus stop Jas."

He grinned. "Of course just remember to keep your phone on you and charged. And text me when you get home tonight!"

She rolled her eyes. "Ok, mom."

"Hey, you've heard the news, it's getting wild out here, _especially_ downtown. Captain Man and Kid Danger can't be around all the time."

The curly-haired girl smiled fondly, if a bit exasperatedly, at her childhood friend. "I'll be _safe_ , Jasper. I promise to call you, ok?"

And with that the two friends parted ways as Jasper continued on home and Charlotte waited patiently for the bus.

 **oooOoooOoooOooo**

Entering the coffee shop/bakery she worked at, Charlotte sighed as she took in the busy atmosphere. An apron was thrown onto her head as her short-haired co-worker, Selena, hurried past her.

"Get to work, chicka! Alex bailed on us today and Emily's left early for a family emergency, so it's just you, me and Matt."

The pretty dark-skinned girl raised and eyebrow. "Alex bailed _again_? Did he at least have a good excuse this time?"

Matt sneered. "No, he didn't even bother to give us a heads up."

"Hmmph. Well, we'll just split his check then." she said grabbing the notepad Selena passed to her.

"I'm on waitressing today?"

"Yes, please, if you could? We're swamped." The short-haired Latina gestured toward the busy front.

"Start by taking the order for table 8, there, _por favor._ "

Waving her off, Charlotte walked over to a table filled with giggly teenage girls.

"Did you hear how Captain Man and Kid Danger saved those people from those horrible robbers?" A dark haired girl said excitedly to her friends.

The one next to her grinned. "I know! Oh, Kid Danger is so cute! If only _he_ could save me!" she gushed starry-eyed to a flurry of agreements from all her friends.

Charlotte inwardly rolled her eyes. _Not this again._

Quickly taking the girls' orders she walked away from the, quite literal, hero worship.

The first time Charlotte had heard about Swellview City's duo of heroes was when she'd first moved to the city in the 7th grade. She'd of course thought it was a joke. Two costume wearing vigilantes jumping around playing hero? _Nah_. It was probably just talk of some new superhero movie that just came out.

She was quickly and _unfortunately_ proven wrong, when within a week of arriving in the city, an actual, bon fide _supervillain_ named Dr. Minyak had actually nearly destroyed the city with a dangerous superweapon he'd created. She and her family had read the news in disbelief as two costumed superheroes, identified as Captain Man and his sidekick Kid Danger were credited with disabling the weapon, and capturing Dr. Minyak and his assistant.

And trust her, the stories only got weirder. Sometimes she really couldn't believe her life. It was like living in an only _slightly_ less dangerous version of Gotham city. In her opinion, any city that held the Joker was scary as fuck and couldn't be beaten.

"I don't know what you have against them." Matt said cheerfully as he prepared the ingredients for the orders she gave him.

"I mean, is it really that weird for them to try and help out a bit, clean up the city?" he continued.

Charlotte leaned against counter. "It's not _them_ , specifically, I have anything against. Though they _do_ dress like a colorful second-rate Batman and Robin. Its this whole situation. First, there are way, way too many super-powered villains in this city, _for some reason._ And 2nd while I admit Captain Man and Kid Danger _do_ try to help, sometime they cause more trouble than it's worth."

"Like what?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Like when they blew up the main and _only_ bridge to get to downtown in an easily avoided situation with the Time Jerker." She gagged slightly. God, her life had become a comic book, hadn't it? The Time Jerker, honestly.

"Or when they accidently knocked the city's power out with that altercation with Dr. Minyak." Selena added from the back.

Charlotte nodded and grabbed the tray Matt prepared. "See? More trouble than it's worth. And that's, what, the 14th time Dr. Minyak has escaped from jail?"

"12th actually." he called as she grabbed the trays and walked over to table 8 and 6.

"Anyway, they saved those people didn't they? I mean the police couldn't handle half of the wackos Captain Man and Kid Danger do." he told the pretty dark-skinned girl as she walked back over.

"I know." she said. "Which is why I said I don't have anything against _them_ specifically. Just against the way the handle things."

She paused. "And the amount of super-powered beings in this city." she added.

"You're just jealous" Matt said with teasing grin. "Bitter your dreams of being a superhero are shattered after you found out you were too short for the job?"

Charlotte glared at him as she took the next order. "Hey, I'm _not_ short!. Just because the rest of you are freaking giants, doesn't mean I'm short!"

"Charlotte, you're 5'2"." he deadpanned.

"That is a perfectly _average_ height, thank you!" she called over her shoulder, ignoring his no-doubtedly sarcastic response.

Flipping giant.

 **oooOoooOoooOooo**

"Selena, you good closing the store? I've got to head out now if I wanna catch the last bus home. The stop's a bit of a walk from here." Charlotte said in concern.

Matt had left half an hour ago and there was still two hours left until closing time.

The short-haired, older girl shook her head. "I'm good, babe. There aren't many people now, anyway. Go and catch that bus."

"Thanks, see ya Sunday!" Charlotte cheered, grabbing her bag as she waved goodbye.

The curly-haired girl had been walking for a few minutes, her backpack weighing heavily on her, due to school books she'd shoved in there. All she wanted was to go home, take a long, _relaxing_ shower (maybe she'd even treat herself to a bubble bath) and sleep all day Friday and Saturday. _That_ was how exhausted she was.

Just as she was envisioning curling up in the warmth of her comforter with a good book, Charlotte was grabbed rather roughly and slammed against a disgustingly grimy back alley wall.

Her head hit the wall, making harsh thudding sound. _Oh. That… doesn't sound good, does it?_ She thought dimly.

In her vague state of mind, Charlotte was unable to entirely process whatever it was that was being said to her. After a moment she was able to get the gist of it and was not at all pleased at what she was hearing.

 _Of course, of course. I_ had _to get mugged_. Though she supposed it could have been worse. She winced as possibilities whirled through her head. _Much worse._

She quickly came to terms with parting with what little money she had on her. Anything to get her out of this before something even worse could happen, her life was worth more than a few shifts worth of pay no matter how irritated she was with her current situation.

As she slowly moved to give the muggers her bag, to her bewilderment she noticed a shadow of what looked like a _flying_ figure on the ground of the dimly lit alley.

 _What in the worl-._

To her astonishment Kid freaking Danger dropped out of nowhere and knocked out one of the two men holding her.

 _What the actual fuck?_

Though despite her shock, the curly-haired girl still had to admit to being impressed by the movie-like drop-kick he gave the man.

She bet the guy holding her would have been impressed as well if he hadn't been seconds away from getting a fist to the face.

It was actually kind of embarrassing for a teen, for no matter how superhero-ish he was; he was definitely still a teenager, to put _two_ grown men down for the count.

Hell, she was embarrassed to get caught by such easily defeated men! Though... perhaps that was the blow to the head talking, though she was sure it wasn't a concussion despite the pain.

Slightly disoriented, Charlotte slid down next to her discarded bag, disregarding the dirtiness of the alley, and watched as Kid Danger used zip ties to make sure the muggers wouldn't get away before the cops came and then use what look liked a disposable phone to actually call the cops.

Charlotte was actually still pretty dazed when the blonde-haired superhero turned his attention back to her, but she was still lucid enough to think about how ironic it was to be saved by the guy she had been indirectly complaining about just hours earlier. She groaned. If Matt ever heard of this, he'd never let it go.

"Are you alright?" the boy said. And, _wow_ , he's voice was deep. And his eyes were so _brown_. Such an interesting shade too, like amber-

She frowned and shook her head, letting the superhero pull her to her feet gently.

"I'm fine, I think. Just my head."

She then made mistake of looking at him. _Oh my_. He was tall, taller than even Matt who was damn giant.

This was her first time getting a close up look at the revered hero so she took the time to observe him discretely. He wasn't built like most superheroes from comics, having more of leaner, track-runner build instead. Though he was _clearly_ in good shape, judging by the defined abs and muscles shown beneath the skin-tight blue fabric he was wearing.

She would have said something about the mask he wore over his eyes being a bit cliché but her head was still pounding and she also thought it was better not to anger the _tall_ and _super-powered_ guy who had just beaten up two muggers faster then Charlotte could make those stupidly overly-complicated drinks that preppy college kids liked to order at the shop.

She was also mightily distracted by Kid Danger grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to his rather hard chest.

 _What in the world is he doing?_ To her surprise and slight embarrassment he began checking her over for injuries, eventually running his gloved hand through her dark curls.

Before she could lecture him on when _not_ to touch a black girl's hair (every time, please and thank you), she stopped as she noticed his gloved hand slightly stained with blood.

"Yeah, looks like you took a nasty blow there. You sure you ok?" he said tilting her head slightly to get a better look.

Shocked into silence by her ordeal ( _not_ at all by the superhero's too-close presence) Charlotte nodded wordlessly as the costumed vigilante looked down at her intensely, his pouty lips pulled into a slight frown.

Just as it looked like he was about to say something the sound of sirens filled the air and a moment later he was gone. He literally just _vanished_ into the shadows of the alley, leaving Charlotte looking around in confusion and surprise.

It was some seriously Batman-ish stuff and later, in the safety of her own home, a slightly annoyed Charlotte decided that this was probably how Commissioner Gordon felt as she drifted off to sleep.

 **oooOoooOoooOooo**

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED!**_

 _PLEASE ENJOY AND FEEL FREE TO REVIEW AND TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS! I'D APPRECIATE IT._


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

If there was one good thing to come of the whole mugging situation (though could it really be called mugging if they hadn't actually taken her money?) was that Charlotte had gotten the next couple of work days off to deal with the minor concussion she had gotten as a result of it.

Thankfully, Selena was very sympathetic and understanding and had also understood that the 17 year old had to deal with school as well. Emily, much to Charlotte's slight annoyance, had been more interested in learning about Kid Danger ( _was he cute? Did he say anything? How was it?)_. _How was it?_ What kind of question was that to ask about an assault?

She told the blonde-haired girl such and was reassured by her sheepish expression and sincere apology, though she still was forced to recall Kid Danger's every action for her fangirl co-worker.

Matt, as was to be expected, had done the whole _I-told-you-so_ routine when he'd been informed of what had happened. Though to his credit, he'd at least expressed his concern over her well-being _before_ laughing.

Jasper, on the other hand, was another story. After Kid Danger had vanished after hearing the police sirens, Charlotte had done the same. Knowing if her overprotective parents caught even a slight _hint_ that Charlotte was in tiniest bit of danger they'd force her to quit, the curly-haired girl had instead pulled her hoodie over her head and quickly ran the rest of the way to the bus stop.

Instead, she had decided to go over to Jasper's (his mother was a nurse) and then walk home from there since their houses were only a few blocks away from each other.

The brown-haired boy had opened the door in slight confusion only to see his best friend standing on his porch asking for first aid.

"I can't believe you didn't go with the police and get medical help, Charlotte!" he hissed as his mother went to put away the first-aid supplies. Charlotte suspected that she hadn't bought the 'I tripped and fell' story she'd concocted but was thankfully keeping her mouth shut. Mrs. Dunlop was pretty cool like that.

"What was I supposed to do Jas?! You know my parents would have forced me to stop working." as he opened his mouth stubbornly, she shot him a firm look. "And you _know_ I need the money."

He threw up his arms in exasperation and helped her up from the couch so he could walk her home.

"Fine! But what about Kid Danger? How come he didn't make sure you were safe?"

She shrugged. "He was probably in a hurry, Jasp. And he dealt the muggers pretty effectively so it's not like he did it on purpose. He probably thought that I'd go with the police officers that were arriving at the scene."

Her curly-haired friend seemed to have more questions and was obviously not done with the situation but, thankfully, they'd arrived at her house and he was forced to drop it (for now) so as not wake up her parents.

 **OoOoOoOoO**

The weekend had passed in a relatively peaceful manner, with Charlotte mostly resting and dealing with the hovering of a mother-hen Jasper, though he'd deny any mother-hen tendencies with vehemence.

On, Monday morning the curly-haired girl walked into the high school hurriedly, adjusting her bag as she rushed inside. Her mother, bless her heart, was an absolute pain this morning and now she was running somewhat late.

Upon reaching her locker, she spotted Jasper propped up against it, seemingly waiting for her, his eyebrows raised in questioning manner.

"What happened to _you_?"

"Well, hello to you too." Charlotte joked, as she nudged him aside in order to grab her books from her locker.

"Sorry" he said dryly. "But what happened to Charlotte "I-always-come-15-minutes-before-class Bolton? I've never not once seen you late like this."

She rolled her eyes. "First off, it's not a crime to come early and be prepared, _everyone_ should be doing that. It's good preparation for real life. And second, I'm not that late, we've still got a bit of time. My mom made me later than I usually am, is all. She was upset over the bank incident that happened yesterday."

She closed her locker and glanced up at him. "What class do you have for first period?"

"Uhhh" he drew out as he unfolded his a piece of paper she assumed was his schedule for the new semester. "English 11, with Mrs. Cheng."

"Me too," she grinned. "Let's go."

The two friends walked side by side in the hall toward their first class and the bell rang just as they stepped into room 221.

Quickly hurrying into an empty row of four, Charlotte sat down not wanting to give a bad impression to her new teacher. Jasper, in a much less hurried pace, sat on her right side.

"Hello, everyone!" a short-haired Asian woman in her late 30s greeted as she walked into the class, tightening the lid on the water bottle she was holding.

"My name is Mrs. Cheng and I'll be teaching you all English this semester."

Placing her water bottle on her desk, she turned around to face the class. "Why don't we start the day with introductions. Since we'll be together for a while, I'd like for us to get to know each other."

She paused to grab a clipboard on her desk. "I'll call out names randomly and I'd like you to state your name, nickname if you have one, and something interesting about yourself, OK?"

The class let out a low murmuring of ' _yes_ 's and ' _ok'_ s and Mrs. Cheng looked down at her roster.

"Amira Abd-"

Suddenly, the door burst open, startling the class, and a tall, blonde-haired boy with messy, uncombed hair and an unbuttoned red plaid shirt stumbled into the classroom. He looked as if he had _just_ rolled out of bed and picked up random clothing from the floor to wear in his hurry. In fact he looked so tired, it seemed as if he hadn't slept at all (for a while too). Charlotte raised an eyebrow as he hurriedly apologized to an impatient looking Mrs. Cheng.

"Sorry, I'm late" he said running a hand through his already unkempt hair in slight embarrassment.

Mrs. Cheng nodded at him. "See that it doesn't happen again." she said firmly. "Three strikes and you're out, is the motto here."

The boy nodded awkwardly, looked around the classroom, and made his way to an empty seat. The empty seat right next to Charlotte, in fact.

The dark-haired girl frowned. This guy clearly wasn't one to take to school seriously. ' _I hope sitting next to him doesn't affect my work at all.'_ she thought, briefly, before shaking her head.

' _No, I shouldn't judge. For all I know he could have had something going on that made him this late.'_

As Mrs. Cheng continued to call out names, she watched, out of the corner of her eye, as the boy sat down and fold up his sleeves, revealing surprisingly well-sculpted arms, in order to better adjust the biggest, clunkiest looking watch Charlotte had ever seen.

"Charlotte Bolton."

Startled, Charlotte glanced frontward toward her teacher before clearing her throat as students turned to look at her.

"Hello, my name is Charlotte Bolton. Um, I like math and I enjoy designing clothing as well." She finished, nodding her head awkwardly.

Making eye contact with the boy as she glanced back down, she was startled to see a quick flash of recognition in his eyes before he looked away.

Had she just imagined that? Shaking her head, she rolled up the sleeves to the pretty maroon colored off-the-shoulder shirt she wore and opened up her planner to write the lesson plan on the whiteboard as the rest of the class introduced themselves.

Hearing a rustling of paper, she glanced over to see the boy doing the same thing. Perhaps, not so bad of a student after all. ' _But what could he be doing outside of school that would have him looking like he missed several days worth of sleep?'_ she idly wondered.

Subtly glancing at him again, she noted his strong jawline and surprisingly long dark lashes that framed his eyes. He was kinda attractive, despite the disheveled I-just-woke-up-now-&-ran-here look he sported.

"Henry Hart."

The boy, Henry, glanced up at Mrs. Cheng raising a hand. "Hey. My name's Henry and I like videogames, I guess." he shrugged uncaringly, looking back down at his notebook.

A tap distracted Charlotte and she looked to the right to see Jasper handing her a pile blue papers.

"Take one and pass it on." he whispered. She grabbed one and tapped the boy, _Henry_ , with her pen.

He glanced at her startled and she held back a gasp at the vivid shade of amber-brown eyes he had. _Where have I seen eyes like these before?_

Realizing she was staring, the dark-skinned girl blushed and handed him the pile of papers.

"Grab one and pass them back to the next row."

' _Thank god, for beautiful dark skin. No one can ever tell when I'm blushing as long as I keep a straight face.'_ Glancing down she noted the paper was the class syllabus and slid it into the front of her binder so that she could use it as a guide whenever she wanted to.

"Mrs. Cheng!" A girl from behind them raised her voice. "Mrs. Cheng there aren't enough copies of the syllabus."

"Ah. Ok." The woman, put down the marker she was using. "I'll run and make a quick copy with mine, then."

She passed a stern glance over the class as she stepped out. " _Behave_. No one leaves until I come back."

As soon as door closed behind her the classroom fell into a flurry of laughter and talking much to Charlotte's amusement.

Jasper took the opportunity to reach over to drop a stick of gum on her desk.

"Thanks, Jasper." she said unwrapping it and popping half into her mouth.

"No, problem. Hey, what'd you say your mom was upset about again?"

She rolled her eyes. "The bank robbery on Sunday. She was on a rant about it all morning."

Jasper furrowed his eyebrows. "But, why Kid Danger and Captain Man handled it, didn't they?"

"Not according to mom. She's upset they caused more than $17,000 worth of damage in their rescue attempt. Says it's going to be a lot of work for the council to fix."

"You don't think people's lives are worth more than any damage, do you? Wasn't it a hostage situation?" the boy interjected.

He flushed slightly as both Charlotte and Jasper glanced at him in surprise.

"Sorry, couldn't help overhearing you." he said awkwardly.

"No, it's fine." Charlotte waved him off. "I don't think they did anything wrong, per say, but I do wish they'd sometimes handle things a bit more... _carefully_."

He leaned towards her, eyes sharp."What do you mean, carefully?"

She raised an eyebrow somewhat taken aback but as she was never one to back down from a challenge, she replied, "I _mean_ that while I'm grateful that Captain Man and Kid Danger are out there using their abilities to do what they can,especially when fighting criminals normal police can't fight, they should be more careful when they're fighting. The damage caused to property buildings, such as the bank for example, is paid out of tax-money and if damage like that keeps occurring then taxes grow higher in order to compensate and some people simply _can not_ afford that."

"And," she added raising a hand to silence the boy as he opened his mouth. "If they handled things like the bridge incident with the Time Jerker just a _little_ bit better than they could have avoided blowing it up. A lot of civilians take the bus and use that bridge to get to work and were unable to as bus routes don't go any other way."

"I _do_ appreciate what they're doing," she finished somewhat calmer, touching the back of her head in remembrance of Friday's incident. If it wasn't for Kid Danger she could have been _raped_ and _killed_. "I just want them to be more careful about simple things like this. It affects the lives of people more than you'd think."

Looking up she was surprised to see Henry looking at her so.. so _admiringly._ What? She blushed as he grinned at her. "You're an interesting one, huh?"

"Huh?"

"You've put a lot of thought into how these things affect the lives of people you don't even _know_."

She shrugged awkwardly. "No, it's just common sense."

Jasper snapped his fingers. "That reminds me Charlotte, my mom says to come by after work. She wants to check on your head."

He waved away her discrete shushing motions, she didn't want the school finding out anything about the assault, the rumors would find their way back to her parents, and turned to face the front of the room as Mrs. Cheng swept in.

"I still think you should go to the hospital for it, though," he whispered lowly. "Mom's good and all but head wounds are tricky business."

"I'm _fine_ Jasper," she whispered exasperatedly. God had given her the King of worrywarts as best friend, honestly.

She didn't notice Henry stiffen slightly at their conversation and watch her with critical eyes as she began to take notes for the class.

 **OoOoOoOoO**

Later that day, Charlotte waved good bye from the bus stop to Jasper as he continued on his way home.

"This time _call_ when you come home." he instructed as he walked away. "And I talked to Matt. He's going to walk you to the bus stop from work, ok?"

"What? _Jasper?! Jasper!"_ her brown-haired, _meddling,_ friend waved cheerfully as he speed-walked away from wrath he knew he'd face if he stayed.

' _What am I going to do with that boy?'_ she sighed. As she climbed the stairs of the newly-arrived bus, the curly-haired girl couldn't stop the fond upward curl of her lips though.

 **OoOoOoOoO**

Walking into the coffee/bakery shop, Charlotte deftly avoided customers and headed towards the backroom to drop off her things and to grab an apron.

"Hey, Char," Emily greeted. "Selena says you're on cashier/front-store duty today. She doesn't want you straining yourself."

Seeing Charlotte open her mouth in protest, Emily quickly raised a hand. "She also says, no complaining. If you do she's sending you home for the day."

That quickly silenced Charlotte and with a put-upon sigh she made her way to the cash register. _Why was she surrounded by such over-protective friends?_

Three hours passed by in a blur and soon Charlotte was surprised to see that it was 6:30.

"Ch-Charlotte!" The pretty dark-skinned girl glanced up from the register, where she was breaking a package of quarters, in surprise and saw a familiar red-haired boy.

"Oh, hey, Nathan." she smiled warmly at him.

"H-hi, Ch-Charlotte." he stuttered out nervously, his face face flushing red.

Nathan was sweet boy whom Charlotte had shared classes with for as long as she could remember.

He was very reserved, but underneath that shyness was an amazing artist with a really funny personality. The dark-haired girl had gotten him to open up to her in many of the art classes they shared and appreciated his snarky humor, the rare times he showed it.

She honestly felt so bad for him, he was so shy. So she tried her best to be nice to him, to try to coax him out of his shell and into the amazing young man she knew he was.

"Hi, so a late bakery run, huh?" Keep it light, keep it casual. No need to get him flustered.

"Y-yeah," he mumbled. "My mom wanted me to pick up some cookies for dessert."

"Coming right up!" she laughed slightly as she fumbled with tongs. "Sorry, I'm bit clumsy today, aren't I? What kind of cookies?"

"Ch-Chocolate chip and Macadamia, please. 10, equal."

"Sure!"

Charlotte grabbed the cookies and carefully placed them, on separate sides, in a small box. She taped the box closed and handed to the boy.

"There we go! That'll be $8.25 please."

Nathan reached into his pocket and gave her the correct amount of money.

"Th-thank you!" he said with a small smile.

"No, problem! And, here…" Charlotte trailed off as she got another chocolate chip cookie from the display case and placed it into a small paper bag.

"On the house! Chocolate chip is your favorite, right?" she winked. She'd pay for it later.

Nathan's mouth dropped and his blush worsened considerably. ' _Damn I didn't know white people could get that red! Is he okay?'_

"Um, Nathan, are you ok?" she asked, voicing her slightly worried thoughts.

"I-uh-th-thank you, Charlotte." he stuttered.

"No, problem! Have a good night." she smiled gently at him, making sure to place the bag in his hand so he wouldn't run off without it.

"You too," he muttered and hurried out the door.

She giggled at his retreating form. He was kinda cute

Matt, who had been watching from the kitchen doorway, shook his head. "Give the kid a break, Char!"

She looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Selena patted his back. "Give it up, Matt. She's completely oblivious. Trust me I've tried."

"That poor guy." Matt clutched at his chest dramatically. "I feel for him, I truly do."

"Oblivious to what? What are you two talking, about?" Charlotte placed her hands on her hips.

"Nothing, Char, nothing."

"Hey! Hold up, I know you're hiding something! What am I oblivious to?" she called after the two hellions she called co-workers as they disappeared back into the kitchen, shaking their heads in twin disappointment.

 **OoOoOoOoO**

A while later Charlotte checked her phone in the middle of a lull in customers, only to realize that she had an hour left till closing time at 8:30

"Charlotte!" Emily called from where she was bussing tables. "Selena wants to see you out back real quick. I'll watch the register."

"Oh, ok." Taking the opportunity to use hand sanitizer, she had been handling money all day, Charlotte made her way into the kitchen only to pause, eyes wide, as she took in the scene.

Flour and sugar was everywhere, including on Selena, Matt, and a sullen Alex (so this is where Selena had been hiding him). Various baking ingredients were scattered throughout the kitchen.

"Charlotte." Selena breathed, looking mildly panicked as Matt poured more sugar into a mixing bowl and Alex melted chocolate in a silver bowl above the stove.

"We accidently misplaced a very important order!-"

" _You_. Not we," Alex threw in, ignoring the irritated look Selena threw him.

"I thought it was for next Monday, not this Monday! Could you please go buy some more milk, eggs, flour and sugar?"

"Of course," Charlotte said taking off her apron and hanging it.

"Thank you so much!" Selena sighed in relief, handing her the money and a list.

"I know it's a bit late but the store is just 15-20 min from here and it's an emergency. Be careful alright?" the short-haired Latina implored.

"Don't worry." she assured her as left the kitchen. "I've got this. I'll be back in no time!"

"Emily!" Charlotte called as she grabbed her sweater. "I need to go pick up some supplies for the kitchen. Can you handle the register as well? I'll be back as fast as I can."

The blonde-haired girl nodded and waved her off. "Go on. It's late, so there aren't many people. I can handle it."

"Thanks!"

As she stepped out the door, Charlotte shivered in the cool almost-spring-but-not-quite-yet air. The sun had not yet set. It was close thing, though, and she had to hurry if she wanted to make it back before it got dark.

 **OoOoOoOoO**

Thanks to Charlotte's clumsiness, she didn't. It seemed fate had taken her joking words to Nathan and had made them into a reality.

She dropped the first bag of flour at the register of the grocer and had picked it up hoping nothing was amiss, only to have flour spilling out of the split bag, requiring a worker to clean it up much to her mortification, as she grabbed another one.

By the time that was all said and done. Charlotte found herself walking down the street with a bag in each hand as the sun set behind her.

Feeling slightly anxious (though she'd deny it with her dying breath) the young woman tried to move as fast as she could with the heavy bags. The faster she got to the shop the better.

Suddenly she heard a loud crash and a masculine yelp of pain from somewhere behind her. Jumping in alarm, the small statured girl decided against looking around to see what the fuck was going on. That idea was a big nopity, nope, nope right there.

' _Fucking hell, I must have become some sort of trouble magnet! I've never been in such scary situations before this week!'_

Her breath came in shallow pants as she rushed forward and her arms began to ache from the stupid bags. Unwillingly, the two muggers from Friday night came to mind and the dark-skinned girl tried not to let panic overwhelm her.

' _Yep, That's it. No more late runs for me. My black ass can't handle no more scares like this. I'm taking Jasper's advice from now on. And, damn, I need to get in shape!'_

"Slow down, princess, you're safe. No need to rush anymore, with me around."

The curly-haired girl let out a terrified scream as she jumped back in panic only to look up and see Kid Danger smugly smirking down at her from the top of the lamppost a block ahead of her.

" _What the fuck?_ What's wrong with you, you idiot?" She hissed at him, hackles rising, her emotions teetering from the wild roller coaster they had just been on.

"Hey," he said in an affronted tone. The blonde-haired hero swung down in a disgustedly elegant manner and landed lightly on his feet in front of her. "That's no way to greet your savior, you know."

Looking at her glaring at him from where she was standing, he crossed his arms.

"Seriously. Are you a trouble magnet or something? Every time I turn around you're in danger."

Lifting an arm to push her frazzled curls out of her face, Charlotte huffed. "For your _information_ , I've only been in trouble once, last time. And I don't see any trouble today." She crossed her arms and looked at him. "Unless you count yourself as one, _Mr. Stalker._ "

Kid Danger grinned at that, moving closer to her. "There was a guy following you back there." His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were bared in anger as he glanced back in the direction she had come from and Charlotte could have _sworn_ she heard a small growl as well. "It looked like he was going to jump you, after following you for awhile."

She glanced behind her, disturbed. She hadn't even heard or saw anything that indicated that someone was following her.

"Good thing I was here, hmm, Princess?" he said the last word in a low, husky voice that sent alarmed (and not so alarmed) shivers down Charlotte's back.

"I-um-I," unnerved by his close proximity, she promptly took a step back and happened to look up into his amused face.

"Yes, I suppose it was good thing you were _stalking_ me." she snipped, crossing her arms.

He gave a delighted laugh that warmed her against her will. "So what are you doing here so late? You don't live around here. Right?"

Raising an eyebrow at the hastily tacked on questioning tone of his inquiry she replied, "I was doing a quick supply run for the bakery/coffee shop I work at. I-"

She gasped. Shit , she was late! "Oh, no! Sorry, KD, I gotta go. I was supposed to be on a _quick_ supply run!" she turned to hurry off before turning back again. "Thank you for saving me again!"

The dark-skinned girl began speed walking toward the direction of the bakery when Kid Danger stopped her by the shoulder.

"Considering the danger-magnet you seem to be, I'd prefer you not walk by yourself, if you please."

"I can walk down a sidewalk perfectly fine." she frowned.

"And not get jumped by strangers lurking in shadowy alleys?"

She bit her lip. "Maybe he wasn't going to jump me. Maybe he was just shy." Pure, utter bullshit but she had to keep her pride somehow.

Kid Danger looked down at her in such deadpan manner that she actually pouted and looked away.

"Fine! But I don't want anyone to see us, I already have all my friends acting overprotective enough as it is."

"Embarrassed to be seen with me?" he wiggled his eyebrows and Charlotte couldn't help let out a snort of amusement much to his delight.

"Of course. I can't be seen with _peasants_ , you know." she said putting her nose up in air.

He put a gloved hand to his chest, mimicking a hurt tone. "My princess thinks of me, her handsome knight-in-shining-armor, as a mere peasant? I am truly wounded."

"Handsome knight? Where?" she said dryly, turning to walk forward. "And don't call me princess."

She let a shriek of absolute surprise as she was swept up in the arms of someone

"Right here, of course!"

"Oh my god. Are we flying? Please don't tell me we're flying." she squeaked.

His voice rumbled pleasantly in the ear she had pressed against his chest "Sorry, princess but we're flying. Fastest way we can get there, and no one will see us."

"Ugh," she groaned, closing her eyes.

"Not a fan of heights?"

"Absolutely not. _Please_ don't go too high."

To her surprise, instead of the teasing she expected, she felt the hero pull her closer to his chest and pat her reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I won't." he promised.

"Thanks," she kept her eyes closed, for her own piece of mind. "I'm not too heavy am I? With the bags and all?"

"Nah, super-strength has its perks. You're as light as a feather." To demonstrate he, as best as she could describe it, _cradled_ her with one arm, lifting the other in a look-no-hands manner.

"Hand. Back. Now." she clutched at his suit in mild panic.

"Ok, ok." he placated not even trying to hide amused tone in his voice. She gritted her teeth as she imagined his golden brown eyes dancing with laughter, _at her._

The rest of the short journey continued in peace as he chatted away about various, mundane things (probably in an effort to keep her at ease).

Charlotte was somewhat surprised at how _normal_ the superhero sounded at. He enjoyed watching _Walking Orange_ , thought Justin Bieber was overrated (he was okay), and liked playing video-games like most teenage boys and girls.

At last they reached the shop Charlotte worked at and Kid Danger set her down gently in a shadowed area close by.

"Thank you again," she said pulling a curl nervously, feeling slightly awkward.

Kid Danger bowed playfully, golden-brown eyes glinting mischievously. "It was pleasure to help a princess in need." he rose up from the bow and stretched his arms above his head.

Charlotte's eyes unconsciously followed the way his muscles rippled against the skin tight fabric of the suit he was wearing and she quickly looked away so as not to get caught staring.

Though judging by the amused glance he gave her, she failed. "Enjoying the view, princess?"

' _Cocky bastard. He probably did that on purpose.'_

"What view?" she said in a confused tone, tilting her head. His smirk gave way to a pout and she hurried away toward the store, hiding a smug smile.

"Good night! And don't call me Princess!" she called over her shoulder, glancing back to see him disappear into night with a wave.

As she stepped through the door of her workplace, a thought occurred to her.

' _Wait one damn minute! I never told him_ where _I worked! He really is Mr. Stalker!'_

 **OoOoOoOoO**

 _Thank you all for the reviews you left! Hope you enjoyed the second chapter! Feel free to leave your thoughts, of course! Review are like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to me, absolutely wonderful_ _!_

 _Note: In my fic, Henry's powers include: Flight, speed, and super-strength. Captain Man has all those_ and _indestructibility. Henry does not have indestructibility._


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